Return to Death City
by TheDoctorRowanaRisska
Summary: The Kishin has awaken. It's time for me to return to Death City with my weapon partner Shin Yumi and protect the place I call home. My name is Aria and this is my story.
1. Chapter 1

I shifted my backpack a little higher as it was digging into my back. I looked around the city that I had not seen for many years: Death City. Shin came up beside me wrapping his arm around my waist as we walked through the city.

"It has been awhile since we were last here Aria. Why come back now?" Shin asked, always worried about me.

"The Kishin has been released, Shin. My father said that Death City needs all the help it can get. It also makes it difficult that Lord Death can't leave the city to search for it. It only makes sense for us to return."

"I know Aria, but I know that your madness can elevate around _him_," Shin said with bite to his tone. He respected my father as he was one of the strongest Meisters in Death City but he also cared about my well-being more.

I flicked my grayish purple hair out of my face. "Even if I wasn't around him, the Kishin's madness will come for me soon Shin. At least this way, there are others that can help when it gets to be too much."

"True Aria but I wish it wasn't around here. Who knows when that Kishin will come for Death City," he said.

"Which is why we must be ready for him Shin," I said as we ran up the stairs to the DWMA, the Death Weapon Meister Academy, the school Shin and I would be enrolling in for the _second_ time seeing as we left before we finished our education.

Shin sighed when we got to the top. "I may not like it but you are my Meister and I your weapon so I will follow your decision although I may not like it," he said as we came upon a classroom.

I stood up on my tip toes and kissed his cheek. "And that is all I ask. Shall we go in?"

He gave a silent nod. I knew deep down he still disagreed but followed me inside anyway.

We entered the room full of students, all listening to a lecture. A man in rolly-chair sat in front of the class. When we entered, he spun his chair in our direction. A smile played on his face.

"Ahh. Our new students have arrived. Class, meet your new classmates Shin Yumi and his Meister, Aria Stein.


	2. Chapter 2

I coolly looked around the room. All of the students' gazes floated between me and Professor Stein, seeing if I could truly be his daughter. I'm sure when they saw the stitching on my face that ran from the top of the right side of my forehead to my right ear and on the left side, the stitching that goes from the top of my forehead down to my ear, their suspicions were confirmed. I felt their gazes analyze me. My gray purple hair, my stitching, wondering where the rest could be seeing as my father was famous for his dissecting; my tall lanky figure. I'm sure if I had glasses, a bolt through my head, and a lab coat replacing my long black coat, then could be my father's twin. But the tell-all sign would be the madness he was famous for but I wouldn't let _them_ see that.

"Morning Professor Stein. What is the lesson for today?" I asked even though I knew my father well enough to know what the lesson was about.

My father looked at me in a monotone voice. "We were just about to head outside and practice the skill known as Resonance Link. Since you and Shin are proficient in it, I'm sure you wouldn't mind being in a group of four," he said phrasing it as a command, not a request.

"Whatever you say Sempai," I said dropping my backpack by the doorway and moving away know what would happen next.

"Follow me outside class," Stein said as he pushed off toward the doorway and, as I predicted, tripped over the doorframe.

Rolling my eyes and chuckling, I started to head toward the doorway when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a girl with pigtails. She extended her hand.

"Hello, my name is Maka. Maka Alburn," she said with a warm smile on her face.

I shook her hand. "So you're Spirit's daughter. I think met him a couple of times when I was younger. He was always kind when I met him."

A smile played on her face. "He always did love kids. I never knew Professor Stein had a daughter."

"Most don't. It was better if most didn't know about me, but with the Kishin's release, it seems like my place is here."

"So the loon had a kid. Who knew," a voice said behind Maka. From behind her, a weapon stepped up. He had pure white hair and slouched with a grin on his face.

I used my soul perception and saw that although they were partners, their souls were not ideal for each.

I chuckled. "Yeah. Who knew. And you are?" I asked sticking my hand out.

He extended his hand and shook it. "Soul Eater, demon scythe." He looked at Shin with curiosity on his face. "So what do you turn into?"

Before he could answer, I heard a laugh on the rafters. I looked up in time to a figure flying towards me. I grabbed the figure around its neck in midair and slammed it to the ground.

"Black Star, it's rude to attack new students," a girl said coming to the figure's side. I looked down to see a boy about my age. I saw the star tattoo on his shoulder and recognized it as the mark of the infamous Star Clan. I released my hold on his neck and let him stand up.

"For someone that belongs to the Star Clan, you are a rather loud assassin," I said holding out my hand to help him up.

He leapt up without my help. "I AM BLACK STAR THE GREATEST ASSASSIN IN THE WORLD! AND I DON'T NEED TO BE QUEIT! HAHAHAH!"

The girl stood up. I read her soul and saw that she was loud one, known as Black Star's, partner. Her soul resonated well with Black Star's loudness.

"I apologize for Black Star's rudeness. He's get overzealous sometimes. I'm Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Black Star's partner," she said with a smile. I could tell she had a timid but strong personality.

I smiled. "It's not a problem."

"Gosh BlackStar. Can't you go five minutes without trying to kill someone?" Maka said with a note of irritation to her voice.

"I'm the greatest assassin ever Maka! You don't think that I got that way by letting my skills get rusty do you?" he asked, projecting his voice as he spoke.

Maka looked like she was about to say something when Stein rolled back into the doorway.

"Any student who is not in the courtyard in the next five minutes will be my next dissection experiment," he said with a monotone, but I heard the irritation and if I wasn't mistaken, delight within his voice when he said it. Only my father would use dissection as a form of punishment.

I guess that most of the students didn't want to risk it because they hurried out of the class. Laughing Shin and I followed, knowing that this lesson would be the hardest and most stressful, of the Meisters and Weapons careers.


	3. Chapter 3

We followed Stein out to the courtyard where most of the students were split up into groups of three. Standing away from the other students, there was a tall and lanky kid with three white stripes in his hair. Standing beside him, were two weapons. One was taller than the other and had long brown hair and a sullen expression on her face. Next to her was a hyperactive girl with short blonde hair. When we entered the courtyard entrance, the short one skipped up to us. She leaped in front of Maka and pointed her finger in her face.

"Maka! You, Soul, BlackStar, and Tsubaki are in our group," she said with a huge smile on her face. She then realized that I was standing there.

"You look like Stein! Did he do those stitches or did you do that yourself?" she yelled pointing at me.

I pulled my sleeves down, hoping that she didn't see my arms. "Umm," I said uncomfortably.

"Patty," a soft voice said behind her. "Don't you know that it's rude to ask questions like that?" The tall boy came forward. "I'm Death the Kid and these are my weapon partners Liz and Patty," he said pointing the two girls.

He went to turn back toward the other groups, but he turned quickly back to face me. He narrowed his eyes "The stitches on your face. They aren't SYMMETRICAL!"

Everyone groaned. "Really Kid? Give it a rest already!" Liz said.

I sighed. _Really dude? Do you think I chose to have my face like this?_

"Kid, stop gawking at the unsymmetrical stitching on Miss Stein's face and get into your group," my father said coming up behind us. He walked past me. When he half turned to face me, I saw a bit of madness flash in his face.

Seeing the madness flash, I felt mine stir. I dug my nails into my arm trying to clear my head. I felt Shin's hand cover and squeeze mine. I looked up to see his forced smile looking down at me. He pulled my hand away and pulled me toward the group.

"Now today we are working on the technique Serial Resonance Link. Now we don't have time to fool around as the Kishin has been awaken and the organization Arachnophobia is causing trouble so either your team understands it today or else you WILL be dropped from my class," Stein said. I could tell he was trying to keep himself sane. Many of his students couldn't see it but Shin and I knew what to look for.

My group gathered on one side of the courtyard away from the others. As we had nine people resonating with each other, if done correctly, our link would be the biggest so we didn't want to be in anyone's way. Maka's, BlackStar's, Kid's partners changed into their weapon forms.

I looked at Shin. "Ready?" I asked.

He nodded and changed into his weapon form, a longbow. I held him in my hand and admired the shaft of the bow. It was black with red swirling designs. Instead of having a quiver of arrows, when I drew the string back, an arrow would appear but it is no ordinary arrow.

"So Shin's weapon form is a longbow. But you don't have any arrows Aria. So what do you shoot instead?" Maka asked.

I turned to her. "When I draw the string back, an arrow appears but instead of it being a regular arrow, it's actually a compressed version of my wavelength. It's much more powerful in battle," I said with a smile.

"Maka, Aria. Enough chit-chat. Get to work," Stein called over from the other side of the courtyard.

We gave each other a sheepish look. Maka moved to stand across from me while BlackStar stood across from Kid.

_Why are we doing this Aria? We already know how this going to play out. _Shin said in my mind.

_I know Shin. But this is their lesson. We must let this play out._

Everyone closed their eyes and resonated with their partners. I followed suit and reached deep within myself to resonate with Shin. I could hear people from other groups gasping as they saw my resonance energy surrounding me. While my energy looked like everyone else's, my energy had stitches running around it. No one, not even my father, had resonance energy like mine.

_Aria._ I heard Maka's voice in my head. I felt that she had already linked with Kid…but Kid's not going to be the difficult one. I felt their souls come toward me. I could feel that Kid was holding back, allowing Maka to lead. That, however, is not the point of the exercise.

Knowing my dad and Shin would kick my butt for doing it, I pulled back. I didn't want to be the difficult link. I would leave that to the other stubborn soul in our group: BlackStar.

I allowed them to link with me. _Alright. So far so good. Now to link with BlackStar._ I heard Maka say. I felt her lead the link toward BlackStar. I braced myself for the inevitable.

Sure enough, it came. BlackStar's wavelength attempted to take over and in doing so, broke the link. While Kid and Maka were only hurt a little bit, since I had repressed my wavelength so much, it threw me ten feet back. I landed on my back and felt my head hit the concrete.

_Aria. Are you ok? _I heard Shin ask. I felt him change from his weapon form back into his human form. He lifted my head and put it on his knee.

A dark shadow fell over us. "Do that again Aria and you will wish you hadn't."

I looked up to see my father standing over us, a disappointed scowl on his face. He turned and walked away, his lab coat billowing behind him. I sighed and laid my head back on Shin's knee. What had I gotten myself into? 


	4. Chapter 4

"Aria! Are you ok?"

I looked up to see Maka and Soul standing above me. I must have blacked out.

"How long was I out for?" I asked.

"About five minutes," Shin answered.

Kid held out his hand out. I grabbed it and he pulled me up off the ground. I moved my hair out of my face and checked myself over for injuries. I had a cut near my mouth but I was fine otherwise.

I turned to the others. "Let's try it again." _And I'm not holding back. Stein about skewered me last time for it. _

Everyone nodded and the weapons turned back into their weapon forms. I closed my hand around Shin. _Hopefully they will get the technique this time. You know your dad will kick you out of the class. Even if you are his daughter. _Shin said in my head.

"Alright let's try this again. BlackStar, follow my lead," Maka said sounding irritated. I heard BlackStar scuff to my right. I almost wanted to do the same thing.

I resonated with Shin. This time, rather than repress my wavelength, I allowed it run freely. I could hear it crackling in my ear like lightning. Suddenly I heard the link break again, but it wasn't my fault as I wasn't even connected to it.

_The Maka girl is the weak link. BlackStar's wavelength is fighting to lead but Maka's wavelength can't win control. If she can't even win over BlackStar's wavelength, how can she win over mine?_

"BlackStar! Why can't you follow my lead?" Maka screamed at BlackStar.

"It's not my fault you're weak!" BlackStar screamed back. If only he knew how true that statement was.

"I'm not weak! You're just being difficult as usual!"

"Psh. Sounds like your being the difficult one," BlackStar said crossing his arms.

While they argued, I shouldered Shin and went off to find my dad. I found him leaning against a tree trying to shake the madness.

"How long has the madness been progressing?" I asked walking up to him.

He breathed heavily trying to catch his breath. "Ever since the Kishin has been released. What about you Aria? Have you felt its madness? The call of its song?"

I nodded. "Do they still have Spirit as your weapon partner?"

He laughed. "No. Lord Death appointed Marie as my partner. He seems to think that her wavelength will sooth my madness. Speaking of partners, I still don't approve of yours," he said with a scowl.

I sighed. "You haven't seen me in three years and that's the topic you bring up. Not 'How have you been? Made a death scythe yet?' Instead I get the same old lecture."

"If it makes you feel any better," Shin said transforming back into his human form, "I don't approve of you bringing Aria back here," Shin said with a scowl.

My father opened his mouth to retort when Maka walked up. "Professor Stein. BlackStar is not working well with the group. I ask that you drop him from my resonance team."

Stein scuffed. He had the same thoughts that I had.

"So I should punish him BlackStar for not holding back because YOU can't keep up. Should I do the same to Aria? She got in enough trouble for holding back last time and now you want me to punish both her and BlackStar because again, YOU cannot keep up. Get out of my face you foolish girl," he said, madness lacing his voice.

"Professor Stein," I tried to interject but Maka cut me off.

"I am NOT the weak link," she insisted. "Why is everything about BlackStar?" she muttered under her breath.

"Everything isn't about BlackStar Maka. But it is rather selfish of you to try to get rid of the strongest attacker on the team," I said,

"It seems that somewhere along the way, you missed the fundamentals of Serial Resonance. Go study up you silly girl and go away!" Stein growled.

Maka turned on her heels and stormed away, pissed she didn't get her away. As full of malice the advice my father gave her, it was good and advice and hopefully gave her the understanding she needed to master Serial Resonance Linking.

I turned on my heels to head back to the group. "Shin and I need to stay at your lab for a couple of days. Spirit's trying to find an apartment for us. Be careful dad. It sounds like the madness is close to consuming you."

I walked back to the group with Shin following me. "He has become quite madder since the last time we saw him," Shin said.

"Might as well get use to it. I'll become him one day," I said.

I heard Shin stop behind me. I turned to face him. He had a furious look on his face.

"No. You won't. I'll keep you from it," he said. He came up and hugged me and laid a kiss on the top of my head. "Now let's go see the others."

I nodded and followed him back to the group. In the courtyard, all the other groups had left since they were able to master the technique. From my group, Maka and Tsubaki were missing. BlackStar was nursing a huge welt on his cheek.

I sighed. Looks like it's going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

"Should I go after her?" I asked Shin. He always seemed to know what to do in these situations while I was like my father: cold and clueless.

Shin shook his head. "This is a lesson she needs to figure out herself."

"So how old are you two exactly?" Soul asked coming up to us. "You don't look any older than us but it seems like you graduated the DWMA."

I nodded. "We have. We are both nineteen."

"Guys, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. It won't happen again." I turned to see Tsubaki and Maka walking up. She walked up to me.

"I'm sorry you had to hold back in order me to lead. It wasn't right and I'm sorry."

I nodded. "It's cool."

She walked up to BlackStar. "Ready to try again?"

He nodded. "LET'S DO THIS!"

So we got back to where we standing before. Shin transformed and I resonanced with his soul without holding back. I felt Death and Maka come towards me. _You better be ready Maka because I am at full force._ I felt them latch on to my resonance. They wavered a bit but then snapped back to full strength. Now it was time for BlackStar.

I let Maka guide me toward BlackStar. _Please work. _We latched onto BlackStar resonance link. and…it held!

The others all cheered and let go of the link. It was fine since we _finally_ did it. I smiled and turned and walked back to my father leaving their cheering in the distance. Shin changed back and followed me. Stein was leaning against a tree.

"They did it. There is something special about this team dad even though they had trouble in the beginning."

He looked up. "No one knows this yet but we are going after Arachnophobia tomorrow. We are bringing yours and Ox's resonance teams. They are planning something big. We are keeping them out of danger but Marie and I have to go into a dangerous magnetic field. I want you to lead the teams while we are in there. Your team is headstrong and might try to come in after us. I want you to make sure that that doesn't happen."

I nodded. "Well might want to go to sleep then since this mission is tomorrow. See you at home."

He nodded and turned back to the sunset.

I turned on my heel and walked toward my father's lab. Shin followed me.

"You aren't going to listen to him are you?

I shook my head. "No Shin. I'm not."


End file.
